John Lewis of Hungerford: creating an influencer kitchen
The Brief
When Kiran Noonan, MD of John Lewis of Hungerford - the beloved British kitchen and cabinetry makers, came to us with the challenge to get people talking about the brand, we got excited. Really excited.
We were very familiar with the brand having worked with them back in our old agency days but we knew the work of their incredibly skilled craftsmen and talented design team deserved a lot more attention than it was getting at the time.
The brief was simple: get people talking about the brand and reach new audiences.
The Strategy
With an abundance of experience in the influencer marketing world, together with an overwhelming number of fantastic interiors influencers on the precipice of big home renovation projects, we presented an influencer gifting strategy to John Lewis of Hungerford to gift three kitchens to three very different influencers. It was bold, required investment and we needed Kiran to place some serious trust in us to make it happen. The brand were placing substantial amounts of their marketing spend into print advertising but when we questioned them as to whether or not they saw a clear ROI on all their spends, the answer was hazy. This is a familiar story. Whilst we have no doubt that once upon a time print advertising was a sure fire way to create brand awareness, with fewer people than ever picking up physical magazines, it begs the question, are there better areas to place your spend? The answer is usually yes.
The Influencers & Collaborators
Having been given the green light on our strategy for gifting a kitchen, the task of choosing the right ones was the next step. This presented itself really naturally to us. We knew we wanted an interior designer, a savvy business owner and a content creator - all with strong voices in the industry and beyond, and all with unique personal styles. A mix of timing, existing relationships and fate landed us on the perfect trio:
The Designers - Russell & Jordan - 2LG Studio
The Entrepreneur - Sarah Akwisombe - No Bull Business School
The Interiors Content Creator - Kimberly Duran - Swoonworthy
In return for the gifted kitchen, our chosen influencers had to write a series of content pieces about their kitchen renovation projects, provide a whole selection of images of the finished spaces and take part in relevant events at the John Lewis of Hungerford showrooms as well as documenting the entire process across all social media platforms.
We liaised with existing John Lewis of Hungerford partners Miele, Quooker, Caeserstone, Rossi Stoneworks and One Call Solutions to help us put the finishing touches on the spaces and bring it to life.
Photo: Kimberly Duran - Swoonworthy Blog
Photo: Sarah Akwisombe
Photo: 2LG Studio/Megan Taylor
Why It Worked
The ROI on big ticket item gifting is never immediate. That was the biggest hurdle to this challenge. When you work on a project for so long, there’s an expectation that the moment it goes live, the phone starts ringing - that’s very rarely the case. But steadily and surely, website traffic, enquiries, social following/reach/engagement and press enquiries came pouring through.
2LG Studio’s kitchen was always going to be the most talked about space because it had several collaborators involved in it and was a very distinctive design. Sarah’s kitchen really hit a new audience for the brand - those with smaller spaces who thought they couldn’t do much with the space and those that had pigeon holed the brand for a more traditional kitchen style. Kimberly’s kitchen, the last to be completed, was more akin to the style kitchen the brand are known traditionally for - a shining example of a big renovation project coming to life, packed full of interesting talking points.
Reached new audiences with all 3 kitchens - several messages were received saying “I hadn’t heard of John Lewis of Hungerford until now”
It was a great exercise for differentiating the brand from the department store - many people assumed it was part of the partnership.
Made the brand more digitally known - online presence has increased tenfold - more website traffic, more design-led social following and more people writing about and sharing the spaces on their channels than any other space they’ve worked on
Become known as a more design-led brand. Whilst their bread and butter cabinetry will always lean to the more traditional, the brand’s audience now see a greater breadth of design work in their portfolio.
Increased presence with trade: interior designers, architects, stylists etc. This is a crucial part of the brand’s ongoing strategy and the new connections they now have available to them, is something very exciting
The right kind of influencers! This is the important one. Russell & Jordan, Sarah and Kimberly all share one thing - they are really great at what they do. They didn’t just want to be given a kitchen. They wanted involvement. They wanted to understand the brand, the design and the behind-the-scenes of putting it all together. This is where you can build true ambassadorship - the number one goal for influencer partnerships!
They gained imagery for all three kitchens - money they would’ve spent on a photoshoot (stylist, photographer, props, travel etc all add up!)
Credible back links (on sites with a high Domain Authority) to their website created globally - an SEO dream!
What we learnt
Influencer marketing still works and provides a measurable return
The success of this project was largely down to picking the right influencers for the brand - think of it like a matchmaking service. The chemistry needs to be right for the magic to work. Similarly, all of them were curious to learn more about the brand and be involved with the process from start to finish. This has built unparalleled connection between brand and influencer
Laying out the deliverables is really important. What content do you really need from the collaboration? What are you trying to achieve and how can that influencer help you with that? Discuss this early on and make it a collaborative process. Transparency is super important
